Innovative development of cargo trailers – problem solving

By Ezra Lavi and Einav Galili.

Freight trailing vehicles are manufactured today with old techniques from a one man small shop to largest freight trailers factories. The existing working method consists of manufacturing simple frames using off-the-shelf profiles and sheet metal bending, welding all the pieces together and assembling them in a few days to a complete freight trailer. Many problems exist with today’s production methods and because of lack of a systematic documentation of these trailers, it is not possible to produce the trailer again and get the exact the same trailer. Therefore, absurd situations are created in which no trailer has the same quality as the other one, and what’s worse is the quality of the trailer is very much depend on the worker that produced it. So with a skilled worker you will get better quality trailer than with a less-skilled worker.

The work is not systematic, slow and takes several days. Welding method is not effective and causes many weak points in the final product, causing the trailer to fail carrying just the weight declared by the manufacturer. No corrosion protection is being made, so the welded points are the weak link of the whole trailer, being sensitive to corrosion. Automotive assemblies and components are being bought from a very small number of suppliers in the country, which imports the components from a variety of suppliers, ranging from high quality European standards components to low quality components from Asia, without complying to any standard.

The final results do not comply with global standards. The Department of Transportation grants licenses and permits trailers without reviewing control processes, quality assurance and standards for all trailers produced, especially with big manufacturers that receive a general permanent authorization, allowing them to also produce the registration plates in their factory, after passing the audit. Sometimes only investigating a a failure, or involvement of the trailer in an accident, or if it simply does not meet the stated loads, the manufacturer is investigated, but most often is dismissed with “excessive use or misuse” argument.

Today Lavi engineering is able, using the technology of mass production, combining robotics and superior mechanical engineering, to perform serial production, complying with western quality and standards, and present a product which stands in line with parallel products in the US and Europe. Nowadays, a trailer can be produced within a few hours of work. The trailer assembled without using the process of welding, and assembly time was decreased to few hours. Wagons are being built from an automotive components existing in the market, but the chassis is produced in a fully industrialized mass-production manufacturing. This manufacturing method, makes the trailer cheaper, more reliable, and with a remarkable qualities that can stand the utmost complex and strict standards, without being dependent on the quality of the worker that produced it.